fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

Here’s how to figure out what size and shape of softbox you should buy

Very early on in the journey of a photographer’s transition to flash, particularly studio strobes, the first question we find ourselves asking is “what modifiers should I use?” Actually, the first question is probably “what’s a modifier?” which is then followed by the other one. You start to do a little Googling and searching around retailers, and you discover softboxes. There are so many different shapes and sizes out there, though. Which is the right one?

Well, the fact is that there is no objectively right or wrong softbox. They all exist because they’re all useful. They’re just all useful in different ways and each present a different appearance of light only our subject, depending on how you use them. In this video, David Bergman (and Dean Edwards) take an almost 20-minute tour around every size and shape of softbox you can imagine illustrating what they do.

[Read More…]

Setting up Google Analytics for photographers

Photographers spend quality time establishing their brand, organizing their photos, and building a website showcasing their photography. So, the next logical step is to share it with the world. Social media, mass emails, search engine optimization, and other marketing campaigns are excellent ways to connect with potential clients. Still, once the traffic starts flowing to your website, it can be challenging to understand how effective those efforts are without proper tracking and measurement tools. This is where Google Analytics comes in.

By setting up Google Analytics, photographers can gain valuable insights into their website traffic, such as where their visitors are coming from, how long they stay on the site, and which pages they visit. This information can help photographers better understand the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and make informed decisions about how to improve their website and online presence.

[Read More…]

The Microcosmos of Winter: How I shot ice crystals in sub-zero temperatures with an extreme macro lens

by Leave a Comment

In the “Microcosmos of Winter,” I wanted to show never-seen-before footage of a soap bubble that starts to freeze. I previously tried to film this two years ago with my Sony 90 1:1 and Raynox DRC-250, which only allowed me to shoot at about 2X magnification. However, the weather in Germany at that time was simply too warm for it to work.

Two years later, and with suitable cold conditions of -10°C, I was ready to try again. This time, I was armed with my Laowa 25mm, which has a 5:1 magnification, allowing me to shoot extreme macro detail.

[Read More…]

How to colour grade your footage using… Wait, what? Microsoft Excel?

by 1 Comment

There are some rather mad people on the Internet. And they don’t get much madder than the folks at Syrp Lab. But building a DaVinci Resolve style system of colour grading in Microsoft Excel isn’t quite as crazy as it might first appear. You see, under the hood, DaVinci Resolve is essentially just running some maths when it changes the colour of your images. Maths is all Excel does, too.

The Excel work shown in the video essentially allows you to see what DaVinci Resolve, and similar grading apps are doing under the hood. The maths behind the madness of colour grading. It helps you to understand exactly what each tool in the grading palette – Lift, Gamma, Gain and just about every other control – is doing. Ultimately, it helps you to become better at colour grading.

[Read More…]

Lighting setup: How to make projection backgrounds

by 2 Comments

I’ve been using projectors in my photoshoots for many, many years now and I’ve been writing about how to utilise the power of projectors in your shoots for nearly as long too.

As I’ve always said, I believe projectors to be one of the most versatile and creative tools we have at our disposal today and they’re becoming more and more accessible as each year passes. So why don’t we see more of them in photoshoots?

[Read More…]

Starting out? Don’t try to work your way up the professional ladder

by Leave a Comment

If you’re an aspiring professional photographer or even an existing pro who wants to get better-paying, bigger clients, then it makes sense to start small and work your way up the ladder, right?

Well, according to Scott Chouciño from Tin House Studio, that advice is completely wrong. Not only that but following that popular advice could actually cause you more problems in the long run and prevent you from realizing your goals.

[Read More…]

Expired foods that you can totally use for food photography

by 1 Comment

Food photography can get expensive. Not only do you need the right camera equipment, but you also need a variety of props to make your images stand out. From different backgrounds to plates and dishes, things can quickly get out of hand. And that’s before you factor in the cost of the food you’re shooting.

Of course, professional commercial food shoots generally have big budgets to spend. They will often be able to hire prop stylists, food stylists and more to help run the shoot. However, if you’re just starting out or working with smaller clients, how can you make sure that you don’t waste food? In this video, food photographer Joanie Simon shares her favourite reusable foods for photo shoots to help your budget stretch that little bit further.

[Read More…]

Five tips for shooting macro snow photography to take your snowflake photos to the next level

by 1 Comment

For the northern hemisphere (sorry, Australia!), it’s winter right now. That means lots of snow for some of us, a little bit of snow for more of us and sadly, none for a few of us. Every year at this time, though, one of the most popular subjects for photographers becomes the snow itself. Either it’s snow covering a landscape or some local landmark, or for those of us with a macro lens, it’s the snowflakes themselves.

Whatever situation we find ourselves in, though, whether the snow’s in our backyard or we have to travel a little bit to get to it, snow can be a very enticing subject to shoot with a macro lens. And in this video, photographer Micael Widell offers us his five top tips for shooting snowflake macro photography, including a couple you might not have even considered.

[Read More…]

Follow these five steps to turbo-charge your Photoshop skills

The thing I love and hate about Photoshop is that it has countless editing tools and options. Like most photographers, I find it extremely helpful. At most times, I found learning how to use it really fun and rewarding. But being self-taught, learning Photoshop was sometimes pretty frustrating.

If you’re both enjoying and struggling  to use Photoshop, Colin Smith of photoshopCAFE shares five great tips. They’ll help you to accelerate your Photoshop learning and significantly boost your editing skills. This will lead to not only better images, but also editing faster and with more confidence.

[Read More…]

How to manage your time better as a freelance photographer – Tin House Studio audits my business

by Leave a Comment

Last year I read a book that alarmingly told me that if I lived to an average age of around 80 years, I probably only had around 2000 weeks left. Cue panic: 2000 weeks doesn’t sound like a lot to achieve my goals and live my best life. One of those goals, of course, is to have a thriving photography business and let’s say that it is anything but thriving at the moment.

Still, not all heroes wear capes, as they say. I was presented with a great opportunity to have my underachieving photography business audited by Scott Chouciño from Tin House Studio. Scott is a working commercial photographer based in the UK. He is fairly well known for his no-nonsense, somewhat blunt approach, but I was keen to see what he had to say. Have a watch of the video because it is full of gems that will be helpful for anybody struggling with their photography business.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts